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Waller County proclaims May as Mental Health Awareness Month; providers and sheriff describe service gaps and jail impacts
Summary
The court approved a proclamation naming May 2025 Mental Health Awareness Month. Representatives from Texana Center and the sheriff's office described funding cuts, reduced crisis teams, county partnership with Texana and a continued reliance on jails for some people in crisis.
Waller County Commissioners Court approved a proclamation declaring May 2025 Mental Health Awareness Month and heard presentations from Texana Center about behavioral-health services and the county’s partnership with crisis response teams.
Jessica (clinic manager at Texana Center’s Brookshire clinic) read the proclamation and outlined the county’s public–private coordination. County staff and commissioners praised Texana’s work and noted that the county’s mental-health response includes crisis intervention training (CIT) for deputies and a continuing relationship with Texana’s mobile crisis outreach when available.
Texana representatives said federal and state funding pressures are constraining services. Texana staff said their rural mobile crisis outreach team funding was cut and that virtual screening and a 1-800 crisis line remain available to officers for on-scene screenings. Carrie Janacek, director of behavioral health services for Texana Center, told the court the center provided more than 5,000 pantry visits in a separate WARM presentation and described Texana’s clinical referral services for underinsured county residents.
Sheriff Hedrick told the court the county “probably have about 15% of our jail occupied by inmates that are mentally ill,” and described how jail is often used when state facilities are unavailable. He said the department maintains CIT-trained officers, a CIT supervisor on call 24/7, and that the sheriff’s office has tried diversion where possible, but the county lacks state-level capacity to place some people into specialized beds quickly.
Commissioners and Texana representatives said early intervention, access to care and funding stability are key, and the court encouraged residents to learn about available resources.
Why it matters: Commissioners framed mental-health services as a county priority tied to public safety and jail population management. The court acknowledged state funding cuts and the limits of local authority in developing inpatient capacity but committed to continuing the local partnership with Texana and CIT-trained deputies.
What’s next: The proclamation was adopted; county and Texana will continue to coordinate crisis response and the court said it will consider funding requests during the 2026 budget process.
